Crazed Murderer Captured in Turn-of-the-Century CV, Part 3 We’re finally wrapping up this insane story of a young murderer who was captured in turn-of-the-century CV. To briefly recap, Harry Clark, the wastrel son of a wealthy family, had devoted himself to a life of drugs, alcohol and crime. He murdered a Chinese laundryman for […]
Crazed Murderer Captured in Turn-of-the-Century CV, Part 2 Last week we covered the story of Harry Clark, a handsome and charming young man. But he was also a man who was wildly impulsive, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and stole to support those habits. He had murdered a Chinese laundryman for a few dollars just […]
Crazed Murderer Captured in Turn-of-the-Century CV, Part 1 In 1898 a bizarre murder trial took place that was absolutely spectacular. It had everything that a scandalous crime requires: sex, drugs, alcohol, betrayal, wild chases, beautiful prostitutes, racially tinged murder, police bungling and jailhouse snitches. It was the trial of the decade, and was so confusing […]
The La Crescenta Hotel Disaster of 1887, Part 3 Last week we heard of the collapse of the Crescenta Hotel just after midnight during a fierce windstorm in December 1887. Residents nearby heard the crash, saw the lights go out and came running with lanterns. Lantern light revealed the sight of a confused pile […]
The La Crescenta Hotel Disaster of 1887, Part 2 Last week we covered the setup for this terrible hotel collapse that happened in December 1887. The two-story hotel had just been built, dangerously tall and narrow, and with a flimsy foundation. A major Santa Ana had been blowing for three days, and many in the […]
The La Crescenta Hotel Disaster of 1887 – Part 1 Dr. Benjamin Briggs, the founder of La Crescenta, was a community builder. He came to the valley in the early 1880s with the dual idea of creating a health resort and a town. He purchased the western half of the Cañada Valley, renamed it the […]
Whiting Woods’ First Residents Were Prostitutes I’ve written before about the lurid origins of Whiting Woods. For such a beautiful and placid neighborhood, it has a very dark history. The wealthy LA businessman Perry Whiting first bought the canyon known today as Whiting Woods around 1918 after it was seized by the County of Los […]
An Automobile Trip Through CV in 1911 Automobiles were already becoming popular by 1911, so much so that the newspapers were printing suggested automobile day trips. The auto industry was in its infancy at that point, and there were a was variety of brands, designs and engines available to those well off enough to afford […]
The Lost Community of Oakdale Many of the neighborhoods in the Crescenta Valley have retained the names given them by developers when streets were laid out and lots divided. Some of the names became permanent and others faded into obscurity. La Crescenta was the name of a subdivision laid out by Benjamin Briggs in […]
Victorian Morality in Old Crescenta Valley The hard moral strictures that came from the eastern U.S. dominated the Crescenta Valley before the turn of the century. CV had attracted some of the “upper crust” of society and drinking, card playing and dancing were seen by some as social evils. Strict adherence to parental rule was […]